Avery- 18 Months

Avery turns 18 months old today!

Her check-up isn't until the end of next month because I had to make it during a time when I would be off from school, so Spring Break it is!  At her last check-up in December, she weighed just around 20 pounds.  I don't imagine that's changed too much since she's so mobile these days.

She is so affectionate, and loves her baby dolls and stuffed Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse toys. She still sleeps with her Pat-Pat Baby and has to be holding it when we get her out of her crib in the mornings.  She'll hold her little bald baby (it makes a crying and laughing sound) and she'll say "oh oh oh" while she pats it and tries to wrap it in a blanket.  She also gets her "mous" everyday and likes to carry them around the house or push them in her baby doll stroller.

She has also become very interested in playing dress-up, which is so fun and I can't wait to see how this continues during toddlerhood!  She'll bring the kitchen dish towel to me quite frequently, and I'll wrap it around her waist and tuck it into her waistband so she can have a skirt.  She also likes to wear them as scarves or head-dresses.  She also loves wearing baseball hats backwards.  She's just turning out to be the cutest little thing and it's such a treasure to watch!

She loves bath time and even convinced Aaron to give her a bath right after dinner the other night even though she had had a bath the previous night.

She does not wear bibs and still prefers savory foods over sweet ones.  At her 18 month check-up we'll find out if we can re-introduce rice to her.  She prefers Veggie Straws (which she calls "please") and shredded cheese (which she can actually say) as her snacks, although she's been pretty fond of a Kashi blueberry waffle (plain, no syrup) for breakfast lately.

She still must have her milk in a bottle.  She'll drink water from a sippy cup during the daytime, but refuses to have her milk in a sippy cup.  The only time she's ever actually agreed to have her milk in a cup was at my mom's house this past Sunday when it was bottle time after dinner, but I forgot to bring a bottle.  So we used a very basic sippy cup and she accepted our attempt. :)  At home, though, there's no substitution-- bottle or tantrum.

She sleeps so well at night.  She goes to bed around 6:15 at night (earlier if she didn't nap well), and wakes around 7:00 (sometimes later) in the morning.  She takes at least one solid nap during the day (sometimes this can be a two or three hour nap!) or she takes a few smaller naps (thirty to forty-five minutes).

She took a long time to get her first teeth, but then she sprang into action and now has almost a whole mouthful!  She has her four top front teeth, and the last of the four front bottom teeth is coming in now.  She has molars in the back and I know it won't be long until her other teeth come in.

She's still a skinny-mini and can easily wear her 12-month clothes in addition to 18-month.  I put her in some 24 month outfits just for a change of pace!

She's the sweetest little girl and I'm so so blessed and excited to be her mom!  She's such a blessing to our family!



Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba

Valentine's Day

We keep it pretty low-key on Valentine's Day around here.  Aaron & I don't buy each other things on Valentine's Day, but we always get our kiddos something.

Here they are opening Valentine's cards from my Nana.

This year, the boys got a PAW Patrol heart filled with little heart-shaped lollipops and little heart-shaped Sweettarts, a Snoopy chocolate bar, and some Airheads.  Avery got a little brown plush puppy with a pink heart.

I bought a Valentine's outfit for Avery in the fall and she got to debut it this month!  It's a long-sleeve onesie that says "Who needs Cupid when you're this cute?" and a pair of striped pants with heart decals at the knees and a red tutu.  I tried to get some pictures of her in the outfit, and she wasn't so thrilled with having her picture made for some of these!

I teach a class on Thursday that gets out at 1:30, so I was able to make it to Michael's class party after I was finished teaching.  His class had a big snack and then the kids exchanged Valentine's cards.  He and my mother in law made his cards, and I was so happy to have her take point on this and lead the way!  His Valentine's were a hit with his classmates!  In their class, you have to provide a card for every kid, so he came home with lots of goodies.

My mother in law helped Noah and Avery make their own Valentine's.  Noah is very much into all things police, so his Valentine's cards say "You're Under Arrest for being so Sweet!" with pictures of hand cuffs and police cars.  Avery is very much into puppies, so her cards say "A pup-pup for my Valentine!" with a collage of puppy pictures.

Overall, it was a very fun, low key holiday-- our favorite kind!  Today, I am off with the kids and Avery just woke from her afternoon nap while the boys continue watching Woody Woodpecker.

Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba

New Sayings

Here's the most recent collection of sayings from Michael & Noah.  I collected these from about early December til now.


(After eating a cupcake)
Me: Noah, wipe your face with this napkin and then go wash your hands
Noah: I can wash them with my slobber

Noah: if we touch a fire, it will burn our finger
Me: so we never touch a fire
Noah: especially a hot one

Michael: it's 7:24. It's twenty four minutes past our bedtime. This is the best day ever!
Noah: yeah! It is! Because I had pumpkin pie, of course. And a donut.

Noah: what kind of candy is that?
Me: sea salt caramel
Noah: oh, I'd like to have a see saw camel. Can I?

(Discussing pokemon cards- which I am SO not good at, but randomly won a game once)
M: will you play pokemon cards with me?
Me: sure. I'm not very good though.
M: That's ok. Remember that one time when you played against me and Dad, you put us to toast!

(Asking for Christmas candy, as always)
Noah: what do we have?
Me: Reeses bells, Crunchy bells (aka Nestle Crunch), Butterfinger bells.
Noah: I think I would like a butterball. Yes, a butterball. (A few minutes later after eating it:) mmm! I taste the butter!

Noah: I had a dream about outer space and there was a hole in the floor where I could touch planet Earth. I wish that dream was true.

Michael: I have an idea. I'll put my money and you put your birthday money, then the rest of your money and this penny and we'll have enough dollars to go to the YMCA! Together!
Noah: yeah! With dad. And a grown up. 

Michael: mom, I have a huge stomach ache that might make me do the worst thing ever ever ever. It comes out of your mouth and it starts with an F. Frow up.

Michael: a cookie is just a flat cake!
Noah: with chocolate chips on them!
Michael: not all cookies have chocolate chips on them, Noah.
Noah: yes they do!
Michael: no they don't. Some cookies are peanut butter with no chocolate chips. Some cookies are oatmeal with no chocolate chips. Some cookies are Reeses cookies with only M&M's.



Until next time!
Much love, Reba

Day in the Life

On Tuesday of last week, we had a "snow day," meaning that they predicted the weather would be bad enough that it would cause unsafe driving conditions for the school buses to safely get children home.  We have a lot of dirt roads in our county which can be quite difficult to maneuver in ice and snow.  So, school was out for the day and although we got about three minutes of snow flurries, we had no accumulation.  But better safe than sorry. 

I figured this shirt was appropriate for the day.

Avery spent part of her morning grilling some corn and eating some hot dogs.

Michael and Noah played very politely in their room, and although it's a mess to beat all messes, I am learning to let it be.  No one was shouting or rough housing, which is a great treat!  PS, their room never looks like this at bedtime.  One of their daily chores is to clean their room before bed so that Aaron and I don't step on toys in the middle of the night as we come in to administer insulin, correct low blood sugars, etc.

Akuna parked himself on his self-claimed bed and observed all the happenings.

I made chocolate chip cookies and yes, I let my sons have cookies and milk for lunch. 

My dad came over to help us fix our washing machine that had recently started to back up into our kitchen sink!  I'm so thankful for my dad's plumbing skills and for the tools he has to get these handy little jobs done.  The result at the end of the day was a washing machine that drained appropriately and stopped backing up into our sink!

We spent part of our day watching movies.

Then we had a rocking blood sugar day! 

Avery enjoyed her vegetable beef soup for dinner.  We'll call this the "Before" picture.

When she was finished with her soup, she got mashed potatoes.  We'll call this the "After" picture.

Michael was busy with some homework in between rounds of make-believe that he was Captain Underpants (hence the no-shirt look that he has going on here).

Avery was happy to greet that friendly baby in the phone!

My kids are such hams.

Yep.  All three were fascinated with seeing themselves.

Oh, and Michael lost a tooth at naptime on this day!  I remembered to take a photo at bedtime. This was the expression he gave when I asked him to smile wide enough for me to see his tooth gap. 

I told him he looked a little crazy, which made him laugh and I got these next shots which I love.

And then I forgot to document the rest of our night.  We put the kiddos to bed and then watched Project Runway or Person of Interest while eating a snack.  This is how we like to end most of our weeknights, although soon we'll be incorporating a thirty minute workout into our nighttime routine before our show and snack.

Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba